Slideshow: The Most Amazing 3D Holographic Watch in the World

Can you imagine owning a futuristic watch accurate to a billionth of a second that presents the time in the form of an incredible 3D holographic display?

I heard the following story quite some time ago. Originally, I had thought to present this account using actors and a series of photographs, but I never seemed to find the time.

Happily, a week or so ago, I was chatting with Jonathan Ralleca, an undergraduate at Auburn University majoring in industrial design. Having seen some of his work, I asked him to create a series of images to illustrate my tale.

Click the image below to start the slideshow:

Our tale commences with an old man struggling to drag a big,heavy suitcase down a city street.

Remember, you have to click the image above to start the slideshow. Once you've viewed all the images, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this way of presenting a story. Would you like to see other anecdotes presented in this manner?

@Luis: Which is more impressive? the super watch or the fact that someone was walking with 10,000 usd in his pocket :)

That reminds me of a true story -- must be 30 years ago in England -- the newspapers and television stations were telling of a 16-year old boy who was walking home in the evening in London when he was robbed of around 1,000 UK pounds.

The first question he was asked was "what were you doing with all that money?"

It turned out that he was either an orphan or didn't have a wonderful family life or something (I forget). He'd started selling cheap jewelry to tourists in the street when he was about 12 or 13 -- worked his way up to having a barrow (street cart) ... then to having several carts and paying other young lads to run them for him ... and then to owning a full-up jewelry store. He had just been visiting his barrow boys to collect the day's takings.

One reporter on the TV news asked him how he felt about losing 1,000 pounds (which was a LOT of money back then). I remember his answer "I was just happy they didn't realize I was wearing a money belt containing the bulk of the takings!"

Were you expecting the ending? Thsi works really well when I tell it in person because the ending is unexpected .. .the big thing is to emphasize the suitcase at the beginning ... then not mention it again till the very end...

I have to mention though, that the watch is working as they walk away without the battery!

Maybe I should have shown them walking away high-fiving each other or something ... but I liked the look of the hollogram ... so I just decided that it was running on a small back-up battery for a few seconds :-)

I just hope the actual 3D hologram watch won't come with a recharger trunk to walk with :)....seriously though, i think holgraphics are a beautiful concept. the fact that you can have the benefits of technology without needing extra space. Useful in a worls where space is shrinking.

Max, I espected the bag to be full of watches to replace the one he just sold!

Last week, I saw my ten-year-old nephew off, perhaps for the last time, and I wrote a short story for him. Perhaps three minutes. Of course, it was a science fiction. You might enjoy it (even though you are not ten years old!)

I intend to write some short stories, like yours, to show that stories can be short and fun. Maybe he will start writing.

If he comes back next summer, I intend to create a project, based upon a previous article in EE Life. I would like to make a star, with five points, and three LEDs at each point: red, yellow and green. They would be driven by an ATTINY11 or 13 (I like AVRs!) and a couple of 74HC595s. The software would be simple, with a routine to pull three bytes out of the database. First byte would be speed, second and third would be put directly into the 595s to drive the lights. It would be fun and he could learn design and programming. He would also make a big flash!

We'll just have to see if he comes back! I intend to write a short story every month to keep him interested.

@Frank: We'll just have to see if he comes back! I intend to write a short story every month to keep him interested.

I'm sure he will come back -- and I'm equally sure that he will treasure your short stories -- make sure you keep copies -- you can bind them all in a book when he gets older and eventually he might read them to his kids...

The battery technology is not going with same pace as many other technology gadgets. There has not been any comparable technological breakthrough - as we have seen with smart phones, TVs etc - for at least 50 years available for the average consumer. The battery is among the top heaviest and largest items in my smart phone. What's the hold up?